Norse Myths E-Book

Martin J Dougherty

• Herausgeber: Amber Books Ltd
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Histories
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 327

Beschreibung

The stories of Thor, Odin and Loki are familiar to most of us. Many people know that the Norse gods fought against giants and were ultimately betrayed by Loki the trickster. The end of the world and the death of the gods in a grim battle called Ragnarok has also found its way into popular culture. Ideas taken from Norse mythology are frequently found in modern fantasy and science fiction – such as elves, dwarfs and undead warriors rising from an unquiet grave, for example. Norse mythology is rich in adventure and ideas about creation, death and the afterlife. Norse Myths takes a wide-ranging approach, examining the creation stories of the Norse world, the monsters and the pantheons of the deities, including such figures as Heimdall, Freya and Baldr. It looks at the sagas and the Prose and Poetic Eddas, which tell of real and imagined people, featuring both heroic tales and humorous escapades. The book also examines how Norse Myths were interpreted in a Christianized Europe and how their motifs influenced medieval German writers and, in turn, were used in the modern world in very different ways, by the likes of composer Richard Wagner and in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. Illustrated with 180 colour and black-&-white artworks and illustrations, Norse Myths is an engaging and highly informative exploration of a rich mythology that still resounds today.

Leseprobe

NORSE MYTHS

VIKING LEGENDS OF HEROES AND GODS

MARTIN J. DOUGHERTY

This digital edition first published in 2016

Published byAmber Books Ltd74–77 White Lion StreetLondon N1 9PFUnited Kingdom

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Copyright © 2016 Amber Books Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-78274-343-9

All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher. The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge.All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.

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CONTENTS

The Norsemen

Chapter OneCreation and Cosmology

Chapter TwoThe Deities

Chapter ThreeJotnar

Chapter FourOther Creatures

Chapter FiveThe Eddas

Chapter SixRagnarok

Chapter SevenThe Legacy of the Norse Religion

Index

Dating from the twelfth century, long after the ‘Viking Age’, this tapestry depicts Odin, Freya and Thor. Much of our knowledge of the Norse mythos comes from such later sources; little was recorded at the time.

THE NORSEMEN

The stories of Thor, Odin and Loki are at least vaguely familiar to most of us. Many people can recall – often without being able to say exactly where they heard the story – that the Norse gods fought against giants and were ultimately betrayed by Loki the trickster. The end of the world and the death of the gods in a grim battle called Ragnarok has also found its way into popular culture.

People who would never consider studying mythology may know a surprising amount about the religion of the Norse people, often without realizing they do. One reason for this is the profound influence that Norse mythology has had upon other cultures, causing the legends to filter through to today, not only in the histories of the Norse people themselves, but from other sources, too. Ideas ‘borrowed’ from Norse mythology are frequently found in modern fantasy and science fiction – such as elves, dwarfs and undead warriors rising from an unquiet grave, for example.

In some cases, the use of Norse characters in modern stories is deliberate. In Marvel’s graphic novels and movies, Thor and his fellow gods are an advanced race whose science gives them god-like powers, but they are essentially the same people as in the original myths. In David Drake’s Northworld series of novels, the lead characters are parallels of the Norse gods – Commander North himself lost an eye in return for knowledge of the future, as did Odin the Allfather. This use of mythical characters is quite deliberate on the part of the author.

Other influences may be less obvious, and, indeed, the creator might not be aware of the process by which he or she ended up adding Norse concepts to a novel of modern fantasy or science fiction. Magical weaponry made by dwarfs is a common fantasy trope; few realize that it comes from Norse legend. Similarly, there are numerous ‘Ragnarok Devices’ and ‘Ragnarok Operations’ in science fiction; the meaning is obvious even to those who do not know anything about the original mythology.

The modern fascination with the Norsemen has resulted in detailed reconstruction of their homes and way of life, such as here at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND GREENLAND NORSE COLONIES ARE LONG GONE, BUT ICELAND PROSPERED AND BECAME A MODERN NATION.

There are many reasons why Norse characters and stories exert such a powerful influence whereas other mythologies do not. For one thing, these are interesting characters whose adventures make a great story. Other mythologies have equally fascinating concepts, but are less well known. They require more explanation and will not necessarily grab the audience’s attention in the same way. A familiar story rings true: a familiar character is easy to identify with. So the mythology of the Norsemen continues to inspire and entertain us today, and one reason for that is the Norsemen themselves.

The Norsemen

Often (rather inaccurately) referred to as ‘Vikings’, the Norse people inhabited Scandinavia – modern Denmark, Norway and Sweden as well as parts of Finland – and spread out into other regions. In what is now Russia they became known as ‘the Rus’, who heavily influenced the development of that country. Their settlements in Normandy, France, were recognized by the King of the Franks and became a European duchy from which the present monarchy of the United Kingdom is derived. William the Conqueror was Duke of Normandy, something different from a Norse war-leader, but his lineage and traditions originated in the Norse world.

The Norsemen also settled in Iceland, Greenland and even a very small part of North America (Newfoundland) – although the latter was extremely short-lived. These Newfoundland and Greenland colonies are long gone, but Iceland prospered and became a modern nation. It was there that many of the heroic sagas of the Norse people were finally written down, and it is from Icelandic tradition that we derive much of what we know about the Norsemen and their gods.

Early raids were conducted with at most a handful of ships, but later in the ‘Viking Age’ the Norsemen sent forth fleets of hundreds of ships containing thousands of men. They besieged Paris in 845 and again in 885–6.

The term ‘Viking’, often applied to Norsemen in general, in fact referred to someone who was involved in an expedition, or ‘Vik’. An expedition was defined as a journey where it was necessary to take turns at the oars of a ship; short trips where the vessel was rowed directly to the destination in one shift at the oars did not qualify for the term. More generally, an expedition was considered to mean any long journey on land or sea, and anyone undertaking one was a Viking – but only until he returned home.

The most famous Norse ‘expeditions’ were, of course, their increasingly destructive raids along the coasts of Europe, but they were equally willing to trade. Some expeditions were a bit of both, depending on the wealth of the places visited and how well guarded they appeared to be. These raiding and trade expeditions took Norsemen around the coasts of Europe and into the Mediterranean, and, of course, some settled in lands they found pleasing. The British Isles and the coasts of northern Europe and Iceland were extensively settled, as well as areas inland of the Baltic Sea.

Trade expeditions (and raids) got as far as the Arab world, and pushed some way up the Silk Road. There have been somewhat fanciful attempts to connect what appears to be runic graffiti in Southeast Asia with a ‘Viking’ expedition along the trade routes of the Silk Road to China, then down the Yangtze River and along the Pacific Coast. There are even claims that Norsemen reached Australia, but these do not come from credible sources. Likewise, the settlement of North America has been greatly exaggerated by some, with numerous fake artefacts ‘proving’ that there were Norse settlements in the American interior when it is almost certain that there were not.

Using the great rivers of Europe and Russia as highways, the Norsemen reached the Middle East where they interacted with Arab traders. This created a link to the Silk Road reaching all the way to China.

Leaving aside the wilder claims about where the Norsemen went and what they did, it is certainly true that they visited many places and left an impression – both good and bad. The Byzantine emperors maintained an elite unit called the Varangian Guard that was initially recruited from the warriors of the Rus, who were themselves relocated Norsemen. The Varangian Guard later took recruits from much of northern Europe, although these often came from Norse-influenced regions.

Wherever the Norsemen raided, legends sprang up about them. Where they settled, they brought their own myths and stories, and these endured long after the adoption of Christianity. Indeed, for a time many Norsemen were happy to accept both Christianity and their older gods side-by-side. Over time, however, the Norse gods faded into myth, although their cultural influence was still felt.

THE MERGING OF MYTH AND REALITY

The legendary ‘dragon ships’ of the Norsemen are an example of how fact and fiction have become distorted. The term ‘dragon ship’ has been used for many years to describe the longships used for raids and trading expeditions. These ships did indeed have a carved prow in the shape of a fearsome creature, but no clear evidence of a dragon has ever been found. Serpents, horses and all manner of other designs have been identified by archaeologists, and of course it is possible that dragon designs were popular, but none have survived.

The carved prows of Norse ships were undoubtedly a source of great pride and gave the vessel its own identity – something that might be important to men who had to cross many miles of open sea in it.

The term ‘dragon ship’ is of obscure origins. Some historical sources seem to imply a connection between the Norse ships and dragons, possibly of a more fanciful nature than a description of the carved prow. It could be that the chroniclers recorded a garbled version of eyewitness accounts – after all, as a vessel full of bloodthirsty Norsemen approaches, the average villager could be forgiven for failing to note that the prow is carved as a serpent rather than a dragon! Or it might be the result of hyperbole or bardic speech. The Skalds, who were part historian, part bard and part data-retrieval system, used phrases known as ‘Kennings’ in their poetry. Kennings could be quite simple, such as ‘sea-steed’ for ship, or subtle and complex. A term like ‘wave-dragon’ could be taken to mean a ship with a dragon-carved prow or a boatload of rapacious Vikings descending to bring chaos upon their victims.

The Norsemen were a hardy folk from a land that could often be challenging. They were willing to undertake long voyages in open vessels, and even invented ways of navigating on the ocean. They were certainly a brave people, but although they were entirely willing to use violence when needed, there were actually very few professional warriors in Norse culture. Most ‘Vikings’ went back to their farms or trades after an expedition and many never ventured forth at all. However, they were raised on tales of battling gods and they respected courage, skill at arms and similar martial values. The Norsemen were thus part-time warriors-at-need – albeit enthusiastic ones – rather than a race of professional fighting-men.

Norse traders and settlers carried with them their stories and myths, and these inevitably became distorted over time as well as merging with those of other cultures. As a result there may be numerous variants of a tale, or distorted versions that in some cases have drifted so far from the original as to be almost unrecognizable except in the most general of terms. Similarly, the real Norsemen have become confused with fictional versions or with their own myths, to the point where an extremely distorted image has emerged.

Norse mythology is also distorted, from our perspective, by the fact that there was little writing in the so-called ‘Viking Age’. Runes were used, but important information was enshrined in the writing of the Skalds, the Norse poets who recorded and celebrated heroic deeds, and kept alive by recitation and the training of new Skalds. The sagas were not written down until long after the end of the ‘Viking Age’, and were further distorted by comparison to other mythologies.

Most of what we know about the Norse mythology has been inferred from fragmented and sometimes contradictory references in the Poetic and Prose Eddas. These are traditional Norse tales written down years later, mostly in Iceland, and in many cases the mythology contained in them is presented as part of the story of a mortal hero.

There is no single ‘holy book’ that can be used as a self-contained reference, and no guarantee that any given piece of information is completely correct.

The Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson, from whose work most of the commonly accepted versions of the Norse tales are derived, was writing in the period 1200–1240 AD, long after the end of the ‘Viking Age’, and more importantly, long after Christianity had supplanted the old Norse religion. In places he seems to have invented details to ‘tidy up’ the Norse pantheon, creating relationships between gods and giants to give other gods named parents even though there seems to be no evidence for such a relationship in the original versions. Sturluson also seems to impose Christian values on some Norse concepts; his representation of death and the afterlife seems particularly influenced by the Christian idea of heaven and an underground hell.

It is inevitable that chroniclers from other cultures would make comparisons to help them understand the Norse gods. However, this can be confusing – Thor is Thor, not the Roman god Mars with added lightning powers! Comparisons of this sort are helpful in a very basic way, but overall can serve to confuse the issue, creating a sort of pan-European monomythology that never existed.

A fourteenth-century manuscript of the Poetic Edda, which was originally compiled by Snorri Sturluson from traditional Norse poems. Distortion is perhaps inevitable given the time between the replacement of the Norse religion by Christianity and the recording of its tales.

Misconceptions

Our perception of the Norse people and their gods was further distorted by the Victorian revival of interest in the field. In the Victorian era there was a great deal of interest in the Classical period (Ancient Greece and Rome) and a number of false comparisons were made between these cultures and those of the Norsemen. Norse warriors gained winged helmets, for which there is no archaeological evidence, in romantic Victorian depictions. They also tended to be represented as wearing anachronistic clothing and armour.

THE IMAGE OF NORSEMEN AS WANTON DESTROYERS COMES MAINLY FROM THEIR VICTIMS.

The Victorian image of the Norsemen was of ‘noble savages’, and some other aspects of their mythology were also sanitized. For example, the Valkyries who bore fallen warriors to Valhol (the word Valhalla is another distortion from the same era) were originally hags associated with carrion beasts, but in later depictions they are changed into beautiful warrior-maidens. The angels of Christianity received a similar treatment – originally they were terrible in countenance, with three heads and six wings, and inspired great fear. Modern depictions of serene and beautiful angels are much more pleasant to look at; the same goes for modern Valkyries.

Another common image of the Norsemen is, of course, as violent and primitive savages. This version of the ‘Vikings’ depicted them as psychopaths who wore horned helmets and drank out of skulls. Again, there is no evidence for horns on Norse helmets, which is hardly surprising since they would be a huge liability in battle and likely to become tangled in the ropes and stays of a ship. The image of Norsemen as wanton destroyers comes mainly from their victims, some of whom were Christians who went on to write histories of how the Norsemen with their pagan gods came to the great houses of Christianity and plundered them. They did not have much reason to try for a fair and balanced viewpoint.

Thus today’s image of the Norsemen themselves is severely distorted, and our understanding of their religion equally so. Yet, to some extent at least, it is through this very distortion that the Norse mythos has become so prevalent. It has spread out across Europe and the wider world to the point where a thousand years after the Norse gods ceased to be widely worshipped they are still exerting a strong cultural influence.

Origins of the Norsemen

In very general terms, the people who would become the Norsemen may have entered Scandinavia between 8000–4000 BC, as the region warmed up after the end of the Ice Age. The early inhabitants would have been semi-nomadic hunters who gradually settled into a static lifestyle as farmers and herders. The Bronze Age began around 2000–1500 BC in Scandinavia; better tools made of metal allowed more efficient farming and craftsmanship, enabling the region to support a larger population than previously.

The widespread use of iron reached Scandinavia around 500 BC, again enabling the creation of better tools and weapons. Iron was readily available in most of the region, making iron-working preferable to bronze not only for the better quality and durability of tools but also because there was no longer a need to trade for the constituents of bronze.

It is known that the Scandinavian people of this time had contact with other Germanic peoples in northern Europe, and through them with the Roman Empire. Scandinavian culture was influenced – at least a little – by the proto-Celtic and, later, Celtic cultures of Europe and also by Roman society. Some Roman sources mention the names of Scandinavian places, although the accuracy of these accounts is debatable.

Sea-borne raiding and trade was common in Scandinavia at this time, although the vessels in use were not capable of long voyages or crossing open seas. Evidence from burial sites suggests that Scandinavia was prosperous, but also that conflict was common, probably on a small scale. Coastal raids were common enough that hillforts and other fortifications were built, but there is little evidence of large-scale warfare. This is more than likely due to the lack of large and organized states.

Even before the Iron Age reached Scandinavia the Norsemen were capable of making high-quality weapons and other metal objects. This well-made and decorated bronze spearhead would have been as effective as most iron ones, if less durable.

Around 400 AD, the Huns began pushing into Europe and caused enormous upheaval. This did not directly affect Scandinavia in a major way; there was no Hunnic invasion of that region. However, in the years that followed many of the Germanic peoples were displaced and began to wander generally eastwards seeking new homelands. This, along with a possible influx of Slavic and Finnish peoples driven north into Scandinavia, may have resulted in some major social changes.

Originally, Scandinavia shared a language with the Germanic peoples in mainland Europe, but between 550–750 AD the language changed rapidly to create the dönsk tunga, or ‘Danish Tongue’. The dönsk tunga was spoken throughout Scandinavia and the regions settled by Norsemen, but evolved into local dialects that eventually drifted apart, such that eastern areas (for example, Sweden and Denmark) spoke almost a different language to the settlers in Iceland or Ireland.

While the rest of Europe was in the throes of the Völkerwanderung, or Migration Period, Scandinavia was stable with only low-level conflict. The upheaval that accompanied the migrations resulted in new nations appearing, often with characteristics derived from several component tribes. This ensured that some elements of the proto-Scandinavian culture were widely disseminated, but by 800 AD the emergent nations of Europe were very different from their Scandinavian equivalents that had not been flung into the cultural blender along with the others.

This era is known as the Vendel Period, after a major archaeological find from the time. It saw the emergence of a proto-Norse culture whose upper echelons were rich enough to import horses from the emerging kingdom of the Franks. Some of the legends and sagas from this era refer to princes and highborn warriors fighting on horseback, although foot combat was the norm.

This helmet from the Vendel period, which immediately preceded the ‘Viking Age’, is better suited to actual combat than the winged monstrosities of modern depiction. The cheek-pieces might indicate a Roman influence.

Much of what we know of this era comes from archaeological finds such as that at Vendel. These included great riches and extremely high-quality craftsman-made items as well as goods that can only have been imported. During this period, shipbuilding technology advanced to the point where it was possible to trade in the British Isles and to settle the Orkneys. Lengthy expeditions became possible, bringing about what is normally called the Viking Age. This is normally defined as beginning in 793 AD with the first large-scale ‘Viking’ raid on Lindisfarne, a tidal island on the northeast coast of England. However, Scandinavian ships had been making expeditions to Britain for at least a few years previously. By the common definition of the term, the crews of these ships were Vikings.

The popular image of Viking raiders pillaging the holy places of Europe began with a raid on Lindisfarne in 793 AD. The Norsemen were not making war on God, however. The motivation was simply profit.

The Viking Age was characterized by raids of increasing size. At first, one or two ships would attack a remote settlement or poorly defended town. Later, fleets comprising hundreds of ships launched large-scale campaigns, and Norse armies fought for control of large areas of land. The ‘Viking Age’ is considered to end in 1066, at the Battle of Hastings. By then, there were ‘Viking kingdoms’ in various areas, notably around York in England as well as in Scandinavia. One of them had evolved into a European duchy, and it was the victory of this state in the three-way fight for England that brought the ‘Viking Age’ to an end. By this point, Christianity had displaced the old Norse religion and the Norsemen themselves had undergone huge social changes. Yet, although their time had passed, the Norsemen of old continued to exert an influence on European culture that was every bit as important as that of Ancient Greece or Rome.

RUNES COULD SPELL OUT WORDS, BUT COULD ALSO REPRESENT IDEAS, SOUNDS OR WORD FRAGMENTS.

Runes

Runes were symbols that conveyed a meaning, but were not quite the same thing as letters or pictograms. They could spell out words, but might also be used to convey a meaning that went beyond spelling and grammar. Runes could, in many cases, function as letters, representations of sounds or word fragments, and also as pictograms encompassing an idea. Which way a rune was interpreted depended on context. This can make modern translation difficult, not least because the rules for interpreting runes varied from time to time and place to place even when they were in common use.

Systems of runes are often called alphabets or runic alphabets, but they can also be thought of as a character set that can have multiple meanings. The term used for a set of Germanic runes is Futhark, a word derived from the first six runes in the same way as ‘alphabet’ is derived from the first two symbols of the Greek alphabet. The Ogham writing used by the ancient Celts probably originated around the first century AD and consists of straight lines that are easy to carve on wood, stone or bone. It was an alphabetical system used to write down the languages of the time, and is contemporary with, but separate from, the Germanic Futharks.

The earliest known Futhark, the Elder Futhark, first appeared around the first century AD and was fully developed by 400 AD or so. Around 750AD, the beginning of the ‘Viking Age’, the Elder Futhark was supplanted by the Younger Futhark, which had 16 runes instead of 24. In Anglo-Saxon lands, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc was used, which had 38 characters. The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc and the Elder Futhark were both used in Europe and were eventually amalgamated by some users.

Modern scholars generally believe that runic writing was introduced to the Germanic peoples of northern Europe from the Mediterranean, and that early runes may have been derived from the Italic language that preceded Latin. However, the Norsemen had a much more dramatic tale of how they gained the use of runes. Seeking wisdom, the god Odin spent nine nights hanging from a tree – which was probably Yggdrasil, the World Tree – impaled on his own spear. During his ordeal, he gazed into the Well of Urd, which reflected the past, and learned much before seizing the runes and gaining their power.

Thus the Norsemen viewed the runes as more than a means of writing messages. They were a source of power and a gift from Odin the Allfather, and could be used to communicate not only with people but also with beings and forces beyond the mortal realm. In some ways, the runes could be considered as a means of communicating with the universe itself, and could affect reality if used correctly. The Norse sagas feature heroes who could do magic by inscribing the right runes on a pole or a medium such as a piece of bone, and who knew enough to recognize the effects of runic magic practiced by others.

It has been suggested that runes were used in divination of the future or seeing what is hidden, although there is very little evidence that this might have been the case. The concept of runic divination has found its way into modern fantasy and is widely accepted as having a historical basis, but it may be that the Norsemen did not in fact practice divination using the runes.

The runes were shaped so as to be easy to carve into stone, with angular shapes and no curves. This imaginative inscription, with most of its runes inside a serpent, was found near Stockholm, Sweden.

Observers from outside the Norse world recorded divinations by various means, but often the text is unclear as to whether runes were used or some other means. This has not stopped various more recent proponents from putting forward systems of divination using the runes and claiming (with or without much evidence) that their method is a traditional Norse system. Various forms of ‘Germanic Mysticism’ have appeared over the years, many of which have aspects in common with tarot reading. Some, however, contend that the runes have more direct powers than divination.

There are clear references in the traditional tales of runes being used for magical purposes. Rune spells could be used to promote healing or to bring victory in battle, to improve eloquence or to protect a ship from the vagaries of wind and wave. The Poetic and Prose Eddas refer to specific instances where characters use runic magic, and at one point a Valkyrie catalogues the magical effects possible using the runes. Since the runes could be used to reshape reality, it may be that they were not well suited to divination, as this is intended to reveal truths and futures already set, whereas rune magic could alter that future.

Norse Mythology and Other Cultures

There are many parallels between Norse mythology and that of other cultures. Some of these may have come about retroactively, as cultures melded or scholars from one society tried to explain another’s religion in familiar terms. Myths and even gods might be ‘borrowed’ from one pantheon and added to another through cultural pollution. Equally, it is possible that two mythologies might arise completely separately yet look surprisingly similar.

In any pantheon there are certain roles that tend to be – or indeed need to be – filled. The gods must have a leader, and his rule will likely be challenged by someone within his circle of fellows. There will be antagonists of some kind, and gods who fulfil certain roles that parallel those of people in the ancient world. Thus some kind of fertility or love deity is necessary along with a warrior, a scholar and gods representing other important roles. The Norse pantheon has all of these, but the way these gods fulfil their roles can be highly complex.

In common with Roman and Ancient Greek religion, the gods of Norse mythology overthrew their predecessors to become pre-eminent. In Norse mythology these beings are the Jotnar (singular Jotunn), or Giants, but this word should not be taken too literally as meaning ‘big’. In fact, a better translation is ‘Devourer’. Some of the Jotnar are depicted as huge, but others seem to be around the same size as other gods or even humans. What they are is important, powerful, god-like … but not gods. In this the Jotnar are similar to the Titans of Greek myth. Indeed, it is useful to equate the word ‘Jotunn’ to ‘Titan’ rather than ‘Giant’ to avoid confusion with various forms of monstrous and non-divine giants that appear in other mythologies and in fiction.

A poem (‘Mary’s Lament’) written in runes. The original dates from the fourteenth century, a time when runic writing had been replaced by Latin script, at least for learned and holy men.

As in Greek mythology the Norse gods overthrew their titanic forebears and became rulers of the universe, but not without challenge. The Jotnar plot against the gods and will, at the end of the gods’ time, march against them to mutual destruction. However, they are also at times taken as wives by the gods, although the Norse gods were not receptive to the idea that any of their goddesses could become a Jotunn’s wife.

The Greek and Roman gods tended to be a lot more aloof than their Norse equivalents. Roman and especially Greek gods were prone to meddling in the affairs of individual humans, usually to their detriment. They seem to have fathered a considerable number of semi-divine children by human women, and then used those children as pawns in their schemes against the other gods or ruined the lives of these demigod-children through jealousy. In short, the Greek and Roman gods were not very good friends to humans.

Carvings in wood and stone offer a tantalizing glimpse into the Norse mythos as recorded by the Norsemen themselves. Unfortunately, no simple guide to interpreting these carvings exists, and inferences have to be made using later sources.

The Norse gods had a different relationship with mortals. To the average Norse person, the gods were like distant family members, powerful, of course, but approachable by someone willing to speak his or her mind. Gods were not to be propitiated so much as bargained with, and it was not unknown for a Norseman to more or less threaten his gods. Aid might be demanded, or else the Norseman would have a major falling-out with his god. This was not disrespect so much as a different form of respect to that found in many religions. Gods were powerful, but the relationship between them and mortals was a two-way street and humans had a right to expect fair treatment – or at least to be angry with the gods for not giving it.

Similarly, Norse gods tended to be more complex than those of other pantheons. Odin, for example, was the wise leader of the gods that is a traditionally male role in ancient societies. He was also a powerful warrior – again, a traditionally male role. But Odin was also the master of magic, which was considered effeminate in Norse society. Spells were normally a matter for women or hag-like beings, and were beneath the pride of heroic and manly figures. Yet Odin, who as Allfather is surely the manliest of all the gods, practices magic.

Complex as the Norse gods may have been, with one exception they were not capricious. The gods had their own agenda and pursued it without regard to others if necessary. This caused conflict with other gods and at times upset their human worshippers, but there was always a reason – the gods of the Norse world did not toy with mortals for their amusement. Whereas the Greek and Roman gods at times amused themselves at mortals’ expense, and could be wildly unpredictable, the Norse gods were constant and reliable. This was not always a good thing – making an enemy of someone who does not change is distinctly hazardous – but it did mean that a Norseman knew where he stood in relation to his gods.

EXPLORING THE NORSE REALMS

As with many other mythologies, Norse religion had several ‘worlds’. Most religions have a place of the dead, which may be subdivided into places where good, bad and indifferent people go, a place of the gods and a mortal realm, but the Norse religion was a lot more complex than this. There were several worlds all connected by Yggdrasil, the World-Tree, including realms of the gods and different groups of Jotnar, plus a mortal realm, several different places where the dead might go, and also realms belonging to Elves and Dwarfs, who were powerful beings in their own right.

The only god who changed in Norse religion was, predictably enough, the trickster Loki. At first he was capricious and rather difficult to have around, but he served a valuable purpose and sometimes was the only god who could deal with certain problems. His nature allowed him to use trickery that the other gods simply could not, and solved at least as many problems as it caused. However, Loki’s pranks eventually turned nasty and led to savage punishment after he more or less murdered Baldr, most beloved of all the gods. This punishment in turn resulted in Loki becoming an implacable foe of the gods; it is he that led the Jotnar against them on the day of Ragnarok. However, Loki was mainly concerned with tricking other gods; even he had better things to do than messing mortals around.

The Jotnar (‘giants’) of Norse mythology were not necessarily – as depicted here – particularly large. Many were no greater in stature than Thor, seen here in the foreground with a winged helm.

There are close parallels between the Norse religion and that of the Anglo-Saxons, largely due to common origins. The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic people were originally close neighbours of the Norsemen, and although they were displaced by turbulent events in Europe and later conquests, they worshipped the same gods. Linguistic differences and varying cultural influences resulted in the names of Anglo-Saxon deities differing from their Norse counterparts, but they were essentially the same – the Anglo-Saxon Woden was Odin, his wife was Frige (Frigg) and their son Thunor was Thor.

Conversely, the Norse religion was very different from Christianity. The most obvious difference is the lack of a pantheon in Christianity – a single god fulfils all functions and the antagonist/enemy god is an angel who got above his station. There are still some parallels of course – Odin suffers on a tree, impaled by a spear, and sacrifices his eye to gain wisdom, whereas Christ redeems the world under similar circumstances. The Christian god tends not to venture around the world having adventures, although he was not above a wrestling match with the mortal Jacob.

Another key difference between the Christian religion and that of the Norse people was that while both predicted the End of Days in one form or another, valiant Norsemen were offered the chance to take part in this final battle. Those who survived would have a place in the renewed and wondrous world that came after. The next life, for some at least, was not the end of the journey, but a period of preparation for Ragnarok with the chance to win a place in the new world thereafter.

IDENTIFYING NORSE GODS

In Norse mythology there were two sets of gods – the Vanir, who personified love/fertility, and the Aesir, who represented war and martial virtues. The Anglo-Saxon versions were the Wen and the Ése, who likewise battle the Etin (i.e. the Jotnar). Much of the influence on modern fantasy comes by way of the Anglo-Saxon version of the Germanic/Norse mythos. The work of author J.R.R. Tolkien was so immensely influential that he is often considered the ‘father of modern fantasy’. His influences included his own study of Anglo-Saxon heroic myths, notably the saga of Beowulf. It is mostly through Tolkien that modern fantasy gained its ‘standard version’ of elves, dwarfs and similar beings.

These differences did not prevent Norsemen from adopting Christianity, although many at first took the Christian god into their beliefs alongside all the others. Moulds have survived that allow the casting of a pendant that could be taken either as Christ’s cross or Odin’s hammer, depending upon preference. This is understandable – people who already acknowledge multiple gods are more likely to accept another one than those who follow a monotheistic religion. It is likely that early Christian Norsemen took a similar attitude to their new god as their old ones, shouting threats and curses at the sky when displeased by a lack of assistance. In time, however, Christian practices pushed out the older Norse ones until the old gods took on the aspect of folk heroes rather than deities.

Norse mythology is full of mystical creatures, gods and powerful spirits. The three Norns tended the great tree Yggdrasil with water from the Well of Urd, giving them insight and power over the fate of mortals.

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CREATION AND COSMOLOGY

One of the fundamental questions asked by mortals is ‘How did we get here?’ Norse mythology provides answers to this question and many others, laying the foundations for the adventures of gods and humans.

The cosmology of the Norse mythos was more complex than many others, with several worlds all interconnected as part of a wider universe. Each of these worlds had its own characteristics and, in some cases, unique inhabitants.

The Creation of the Universe

Before the world came into existence, there were two lands separated by an abyss. Muspelheim was a land of fire, Niflheim a land of ice and cold mist. Between them was the Ginnungagap, a void that was at once empty and charged with magic. The Ginnungagap contained the potential for all things, but was also the place that the world would collapse into when destroyed.

Muspelheim lay to the south of the Ginnungagap and was ruled over by a fire giant named Surt. It is not clear from the original sources when or where Surt came to be; he is simply noted as the lord of Muspelheim. In any case, the fires of Muspelheim flowed north in the form of lava and into the Ginnungagap.

In Niflheim to the north was Hvergelmir, source of all the cold waters in the cosmos. From there the Elivagar (ice waves) flowed south towards the Ginnungagap. These glaciers are described in the Prose Edda as being composed of ‘yeasty venom’. When the creeping ice reached the Ginnungagap, the heat from Muspelheim caused it to melt, creating droplets that eventually formed a creature named Ymir.

Ymir is sometimes described as a hermaphrodite, although the term applies more in the mystical than physical sense. Ymir was certainly capable of bringing forth life without the assistance of another being; the sweat from Ymir’s armpits formed into two Jotnar, or giants, and a third was formed by a mating of Ymir’s legs or feet. These three Jotnar, two male and one female, were the first of the Hrimthursar, or Frost Giants.